Happy Earth Day 2020, friends! It's a day of celebrating what all the natural world gives to us, and one of those things is positive mental health.
Upon waking up this morning and checking my email first thing, I got a blog notification from MyFitnessPal. I always knew getting outdoors and bonding with Mother Nature worked wonders on your mind, body, and soul, but how does it happen? One of the ways nature promotes brain health is by what scientists call "soft fascination". In a nut shell, soft fascination is when your brain is so in tune with the environment that no other simulation (honking cars, Mom talking to me, text messages blaring) overwhelm you. Everything needs to relax some times: your muscles after a workout, a car engine after a long roadtrip, and likewise your mind, because let's face it. There's too much going on up there every second of every minute of every day. Being surrounded by nature reduces the high demand of work your brain takes on every day and allows it to recover aka relax.
In the article I read a quote from an evolutionary biologist, Wallace J. Nichols, PhD. He said,
"In nature, visual and auditory input is simplified and organized. Everything from [flowers] to waves on the ocean take a simple geometrical pattern, and sounds are simple and often, repetitive. This soft fascination helps you tap into your 'default mode' network, which allows us to be more creative, innovative, insightful".So, thank you, Mother Nature, for blessing us with improved cognitive function among a list of other things that are too long for one blog post. Happy Earth Day, you fascinating creation!
Comment below what you think about the post today.
- Kailey B
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